Capitalizing On The Chinese Orange Juice Market

Alan Gray is a business writer and a graphics hacker who loves to craft interesting stories and pair them with descriptive images that he creates on his Mac. He used to be a Windows freak, but after Vista destroyed his enjoyment by crashing 2-3 times per day, he decided that it was time for a change. He says he never wants to go back.

Orange Juice Market Opportunity

American marketers, especially those in Florida have a great marketing lesson they can learn from American restaurant giants. A new study coming out of the University of Florida shows that restaurant giants such as Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut have lessons that can create opportunity for marketers to sell 100 percent not-from-concentrate Florida orange juice in China. The Chinese Orange Juice market is huge.

University of Florida associate professor of food and resource economics, Zhifeng Gao, led a study in four major cities in China: Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou and Shenzhen. Gao’s researchers surveyed Chinese shoppers as they entered grocery stores.

With a sample size of 1,053 consumers, the researchers found some interesting information that marketers can make use of. Chinese usually buy orange juice drinks made with 10 percent real juice. Those consumers know little about the benefits of Western-style juice products, such as their high nutritional value.

Gao’s team came up with two approaches that could be used to educate those Chinese consumers, to encourage them to buy the Florida product.

First, they could educate the consumers about the health benefits of 100% juice, and secondly, they could reduce the price. A search of www.taobao.com, the Chinese equivalent of Ebay, shows the retail price of 1.75-liter (nearly half a gallon) cartons of 100 percent orange juice range from $8.55 to $12.75 in China.

Fruit Juice and Fruit Juice Drink Differences

Researchers also found that although 86 percent of the respondents agreed there’s a difference between “fruit juice” and “fruit juice drink,” about 78 percent didn’t know that most fruit juice products in the Chinese market only have about 10 percent juice content.

So how does this relate to the big American restaurant businesses? They already trade in China and they had to make some changes to succeed. And succeed they have. Professor Gao suggests two things the big boys did, that “may contribute to the future success of Florida orange juice in China.” Those two things are adaptation to the new market and probably something obvious – the use of advertising.

The Newswise release notes that these findings are important for both manufacturers and marketers. The prizes go to those who take fast action.